UM, WHAT?

6 years ago

Australian ‘First Bloke’ in Hot Water

And you thought “first dude” Todd Palin was bad. Tim Mathieson, the longtime partner of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, has made a high-profile blunder: he joked that men getting their prostates checked should seek small, female Asian doctors to do the exam. Mathieson made the comments with Gillard right behind him, causing one witness to remark that the prime minister’s face “performed a remarkable transition—jolly, carefree smile to impenetrable stone on the turn of a phrase.” Gillard, Australia’s first female prime minister, made international headlines last month when she railed against institutional sexism and misogyny. Mathieson, who has been a government men’s-health ambassador, apologized for the comments, saying they were in “poor taste.”